i. Technical Field
The present invention relates, in general, to surgical instruments and, more particularly, to surgical instruments having a first portion and a second portion, wherein the second portion is sterilized independently and delivered to the first portion in a separate container.
ii. Background of the Related Art
After a surgical instrument has been manufactured, and/or after a surgical instrument has been used during surgery, the surgical instrument can be subjected to physical sterilization and/or chemical sterilization in order to kill or eliminate transmissible agents thereon. Physical sterilization can include gamma radiation sterilization which can be suitable in many circumstances. In some circumstances, however, gamma radiation can damage the electronic components, for example, of a surgical instrument. As a result, the options available to sterilize such surgical instruments can be limited to heat or steam sterilization and/or chemical sterilization, such as ethylene oxide, ozone, and/or hydrogen peroxide, for example. While such options are suitable in many circumstances, they may be more expensive and/or time-consuming to perform as compared gamma radiation sterilization, for example. What is needed is an improvement over the foregoing.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate some of the shortcomings present in the field of the invention at the time, and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.